London UK, March 7, 2013 / B3C newswire / - King’s College London, The Wellcome Trust and Advent Venture Partners today announced the formation of a new UK biotechnology company, CoCo Therapeutics Ltd, to progress the research of Professor Jonathan Corcoran into the development of new treatments for Alzheimer’s disease.

The company builds on the success of research funded through the Wellcome Trust’s Seeding Drug Discovery initiative investigating the role of the retinoic acid receptor, RAR-alpha, and molecules that act on it in Alzheimer’s disease.

The Neuroscience Drug Discovery Unit at King’s, led by Professor Corcoran, has been optimising compounds for treatment of CNS disorders since 2008. The group has previously shown that molecules that act on RAR-alpha can affect multiple parts of the Alzheimer’s disease pathway and therefore have the potential to produce an effective therapy that would otherwise need several points of intervention from different drugs. CoCo Therapeutics Ltd will now take forward the lead compound into late-stage preclinical studies and clinical trials, which is the next step towards assessing whether the approach has any therapeutic benefit in patients.

Funding to launch and progress CoCo Therapeutics has been provided by Advent Venture Partners, one of Europe's most successful venture capital investors in market-leading technology and life sciences businesses. Dr Raj Parekh, General Partner at Advent, will be the Founding Chairman of the new company.

Professor Jonathan Corcoran, director of the Neuroscience Drug Discovery Unit at King’s College London, said: “I am delighted to be working with Advent on this project. Our research has shown early promise in this area and this partnership will enable us to progress the work further. This is an exciting step forward in the search for effective Alzheimer's disease treatments.”

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia, affecting around 5.3 million people in the US, 417,000 people in the UK and many millions of others worldwide. It is estimated that this incidence will more than double by 2050, should current trends continue.

About The Wellcome Trust

The Wellcome Trust is a global charitable foundation dedicated to achieving extraordinary improvements in human and animal health. It supports the brightest minds in biomedical research and the medical humanities. The Trust’s breadth of support includes public engagement, education and the application of research to improve health. It is independent of both political and commercial interests.

About King's College London

King's College London is one of the top 30 universities in the world (2011/12 QS World University Rankings), and the fourth oldest in England. A research-led university based in the heart of London, King's has more than 25,000 students (of whom more than 10,000 are graduate students) from nearly 140 countries, and some 6,500 employees. King's is in the second phase of a £1 billion redevelopment programme which is transforming its estate.

King's has an outstanding reputation for providing world-class teaching and cutting-edge research. In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise for British universities, 23 departments were ranked in the top quartile of British universities; over half of our academic staff work in departments that are in the top 10 per cent in the UK in their field and can thus be classed as world leading. The College is in the top seven UK universities for research earnings and has an overall annual income of nearly £450 million.

King's has a particularly distinguished reputation in the humanities, law, the sciences (including a wide range of health areas such as psychiatry, medicine, nursing and dentistry) and social sciences including international affairs. It has played a major role in many of the advances that have shaped modern life, such as the discovery of the structure of DNA and research that led to the development of radio, television, mobile phones and radar. It is the largest centre for the education of healthcare professionals in Europe; no university has more Medical Research Council Centres.

King's College London and Guy's and St Thomas', King's College Hospital and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trusts are part of King's Health Partners. King's Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre (AHSC) is a pioneering global collaboration between one of the world's leading research-led universities and three of London's most successful NHS Foundation Trusts, including leading teaching hospitals and comprehensive mental health services. For more information, visit: www.kingshealthpartners.org.

About Advent Venture Partners

Advent Life Sciences is the dedicated Life Sciences team at Advent Venture Partners, one of Europe’s best established venture capital firms. Advent Life Sciences invests predominantly in early-stage and growth equity life sciences companies in the UK, Europe and the US. It will back companies that have a first- or best-in-class approach in a range of sectors within the life sciences sector, including new drug discovery, enabling technologies, med-tech and diagnostics.
Advent Life Sciences is a leader in European life sciences venture capital. Its investments include: PowderMed, a therapeutic DNA vaccine company sold to Pfizer; Thiakis, an obesity treatment company acquired by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals; Respivert, a drug discovery company focused on respiratory diseases that was acquired by Johnson & Johnson; EUSA Pharma, a transatlantic speciality pharmaceutical company acquired by Jazz Pharmaceuticals; Avila Therapeutics, a biotechnology company developing targeted covalent drugs acquired by Celgene Corporation, Micromet, a biotechnology company acquired by Amgen and Algeta (OSE: ALGETA), an oncology company developing treatments for bone metastases and disseminated tumours.